README.rst

Nengo GUI

Nengo GUI is an HTML5-based interactive visualizer for
large-scale neural models created with
Nengo.
The GUI lets you see the structure of a Nengo model,
plots spiking activity and decoded representations,
and enables you to alter inputs
in real time while the model is running.

Requirements

Python (tested with Python 2.7 and Python 3.4+)

Nengo (which requires NumPy)

Installation

The simplest way to install is with the standard Python installation system:

pip install nengo-gui

Running Nengo GUI

Nengo GUI is accessed through a web browser
(Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.)
To access the correct webpage,
you must first start the Nengo GUI server.
To do this, open a command line window and run:

nengo

If you specify a file, it will be loaded:

nengo myfile.py

Alternatively, you can start the GUI manually from within your code. To
do so, add this to the bottom of your file that defines your Nengo model.

import nengo_gui
nengo_gui.GUI(__file__).start()

Basic usage

The graph of the Nengo network should appear. Rectangles are nodes,
sets of 5 circles are ensembles, and rounded rectangles are networks.

Items can be dragged to move them and resized by dragging their edge or via
the scroll wheel.

To start (or continue) the simulation, click the play button in the lower
right. A spinning gear icon indicates the model is in the process of being
built (or re-built after new graphs are added).

Clicking on an item will show a menu of options, depending on what you
have clicked on. Here are some of the standard options for network items:

value: show a graph of the decoded output value over time

xy-value: show a state-space plot of two decoded values against each other

spikes: show the spiking activity of the nengo.Ensemble

slider: show sliders that let you adjust the value in a nengo.Node

expand/collapse: reveal or hide the insides of a nengo.Network

Once you have graphs, you can also click on them to adjust their options. For
example:

set range: adjust the limits of the graph

show label/hide label: whether to show the title at the top of the graph

remove: get rid of the graph

The graphs record their data from previous time steps. You can show this
previous data by dragging the transparent area in the time axis at the
bottom (beside the play button).

Contributing

We welcome contributions to Nengo GUI through issues and pull requests!
However, we require contributor assignment agreements
before pull requests are merged.
See the CONTRIBUTORS.rst and LICENSE.rst files for more information.